UFC plots path forward after Jacksonville successBack to video

The promotion held three cards in eight nights, with Ronaldo (Jacare) Souza’s positive COVID-19 test being the only real black eye from the experiment. That’s not nothing, but if we’re being honest, Souza’s test didn’t seem to derail what the UFC set out to accomplish.

For the most part, you’d have to imagine company president Dana White is feeling pretty good about the way things went.

Justin Gaethje emerged as a legitimate star. Drew Dober got some shine. Francis Ngannou’s next fight is going to be a blockbuster. Some of the biggest names in sports media — guys like Bill Simmons and Stephen A. Smith — were using their platforms to discuss MMA in a way they never have before.

At least from a business perspective, you have to credit the UFC with taking advantage of the opportunity to be the only show in town.

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But what’s next? That’s the real question here.

The UFC cancelled a number of cards that were set for March and April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That allowed the company to reschedule fighters who had their fights called off and build some really nice cards for its three-show Jacksonville run.

We know the company wants to hold a card on May 30 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas — their purpose-built production centre — but fights aren’t currently allowed in Nevada. White said Saturday that Arizona is the Plan B.

“There’s where I’ll go. That’s 100% where I’ll go,” White said in his post-fight press conference. “If we can’t get May 30 at the Apex, it’s gonna be super disappointing, but we will go somewhere else.”

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Where the fights will happen is only part of the question. The UFC still hasn’t announced any actual matchups for that night. It’s heavily rumoured that former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley will return to the octagon for a fight against Gilbert Burns.

There’s the rest of the card to fill, too, and May 30 is less than two weeks away.

The only other card that’s currently listed on the UFC’s official website is UFC 250, which seems to be scheduled for June 6. The headliner for that one is currently “TBD vs. TBD,” although the co-main event between Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer should be legitimately great.

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What does any of this actually mean? Well, the UFC proved it could set up shop in one location and host fights in a way that keeps the athletes and coaches isolated, for the most part.

Every other North American sports league will have been watching and taking careful notes. The Souza test was a bad look, but you’d hope everyone would learn from it and do better next time.

Of course, the UFC doesn’t want to be camping out full-time in Jacksonville. If they have to hold fights with no fans in the stands, there’s no question they’d prefer to do it at their home in Las Vegas.

The UFC Performance Institute is a world-class training facility and the UFC Apex is basically a fully functioning TV studio with an octagon in the middle. As long as the company can secure hotel space to keep fighters isolated — and this is Las Vegas we’re talking about, they absolutely can do that — it seems like there’s a pretty obvious path forward.

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Maybe they can travel around for a couple more fight cards, but eventually, Las Vegas is the key.

NOT SO FAST

One of the biggest stories to come out of the UFC’s three recent fight cards was the apparent retirement of bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo, who announced he was moving on from fighting after beating Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.

The whole thing came out of nowhere. Many people wondered whether it was some sort of attempt at negotiating for more money from the UFC.

This past weekend, Cejudo’s manager spoke with TMZ Sports and while he didn’t go into any details, he didn’t sound like a man who believed Cejudo is done for good.

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John Oliver took aim at the UFC’s plays for a fight island during a segment on his HBO show, Last Week Tonight, on Sunday night, and it’s absolutely worth watching … Khabib Nurmagomedov posted a video to Instagram updating fans about the condition of his father, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. The video was translated by two sources for MMAJunkie.com, who reported that the lightweight champion said his father had heart surgery as the result of complications due to COVID-19 and urged his fellow Dagestanis to stay at home.

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